Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The ship landed on Earth with a soft thud.
The doors opened and a small, broken, crew stood there, looking out into the sunlight. Sunlight from a star so far away, and so incredibly yellow. The day was warm, but a cool breeze rose and fell, lifting their hair and shifting the first few fallen leaves of autumn on the ground. For a moment, no one moved.
"We did it," Lovelace said, disbelief in her voice, "We made it home."
It was with those words that the small team of people started cheering. They ran out of the ship with a speed that is so hard to get in zero gravity, feet hitting the ground hard with a series of satisfying thump thump thumps. Jacobi made it just a few feet before collapsing into the grass face first. The other three followed suit.
"The air has a smell." Eiffel said, laying on his back in the grass "What is that smell?"
"It smells like Earth," Minkowski said softly "Dirt, grass, trees, and pollution. It smells like home."
They all laid there in the grass for a moment, enjoying the moment, before Eiffel spoke.
"We should figure out how to share this with Hera."
Just like that, the crew was in motion. They had gotten really good at handling problems step by step for the good of their crew in the last three years, so at the mention of doing something for Hera, suddenly they were back on the ship, taking orders from Minkowski and doing whatever was needed.
The plan they came up with was simple.
They would need to get their hands on a plane or car that used to have an AI in it but was now out of commission. Hera was less than excited about using what was basically a dead body to her, but it was their best bet. Then, they borrow the AI processor (the ones in cars and planes were much smaller than the one on the ship) to move Hera somewhere she could set up permanently. Where that would be was another question, but everyone promised she would not be alone. They promised one of them would be there.
She would never be alone or used again.
None of them would ever be alone or used again.

Chapter Text

Lovelace entered the room with two large bowls of popcorn and smiled at the sight. Her friends, no scratch that, her family was sitting around the tv, teasing each other without a care in the world. Hera was a little awkward, still getting used to the robot body they had managed to put together with Dr. Price and Cutter's research, but the way she talked sounded happy.
"What movie are we watching again?" Hera asked, straining to see what Minkovski was putting in the DVD player. She missed being able to see everything sometimes.
"It's a surprise," Minkovski said.
"She won't even tell me!" Eiffel said, "I don't even know most movies!" It was meant as a joke, but the energy in the room fell a little.
"Tonight we fix that," Minkovski said with a sad but proud smile. "Strap in, we're watching three movies back to back."
Everyone got situated and Jacobi did the honors of pressing play.
The screen started with a shot of space, and in the foreground, yellow words scrolled across the screen. Jacobi and Lovelace both started laughing right away, and Minkovski beamed with pride.
"I always wanted to watch this." Hera said softly "Something tells me Doug will like it too."
Eiffel was already transfixed, eyes glued to the screen, as Star Wars: A New Hope began.

A long while of watching later, a very important scene came up. Most of the people in the room knew it was coming, but Jacobi leaned over and whispered to Lovelace.
"Does Doug know what's coming?"
"Everyone knows that... oh." The realization dawned on her face as the iconic moment played out in front of them.
"No, I am your father"
"WHAT?" Eiffel stood up in shock, spilling popcorn everywhere. Hera looked surprised, but Doug Eiffel was losing his mind. "Back it up back it up I didn't hear it right."
Jacobi and Lovelace laughed as Minkovski paused the movie and assured him that yes, he did, in fact, hear it right. Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father.
"No way." Eiffel said "I could have never seen that coming. Ho-ly crap." He sat back down, grinning from ear to ear "I love these movies. You chose well, Renee."
"I thought you might like them."